Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to subsidise minimum rural bus services.

Bus service policy in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Executive. It would therefore be for the Executive to determine whether to subsidise minimum rural bus services.

In England, the majority of bus services outside London and Manchester operate on a commercial basis. Decisions such as where to run services and the frequency of those services are in most places, mainly a matter for the operator. Where there is not enough demand for a bus route to be commercially viable in its own right, Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) have powers to subsidise bus services. Responsibility for securing non-commercially provided bus services sits with LTAs who are best placed to determine what is socially and economically necessary, not central government. The Government provides LTAs in England outside of London with £42 million annually through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) for the purpose of subsidising socially necessary services that would otherwise be commercially unviable, helping to support rural routes. The Government also provides over £200 million directly to bus operators every year through the BSOG to keep fares down and help them maintain an extensive network. Also, we are providing £20m through the Rural Mobility Fund in England to trial 16 innovative demand responsive minibus services to better understand the challenges associated with introducing bookable bus services in rural and suburban settings